Nintendo Download: 3rd July (North America)

It's Nintendo Download Update time, North America, and this week is full of new downloads to try and part you from your funds. Some are highly anticipated on both Wii U and 3DS, while others are rather out of left-field. There's a lot to choose from, so let's stop stalling and get to the details.

Did you miss the European Nintendo Download update earlier this week? What were you doing? Don't worry, you can still check all the details right here.

Wii U eShop

Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition (Drinkbox Studios, $14.99 / $14.99CAD) - Guacamelee! STCE not only has a humorous name, but more importantly is a Metroidvania action-platformer set in a fantastical world inspired by traditional Mexican culture and folklore; it features melee combat, parallel dimensions and same-screen co-op. This new Super Turbo Championship Edition also includes extra abilities, more level content and enhanced graphics. Also chickens. We gave this two thumbs up in our preview, and our review will be with you very soon.

Armillo (Fuzzy Wuzzy Games, $8.00 - Special introductory price: $6.00 / $5.99CAD until 24/07/14) - Armillo is a rolling platforming game with a sci-fi parallel universe theme in which you roll around in spherical 3D worlds. Then enter a bonus stage on the moon. There's also the evil parallel universe and special 2D speed-run inspired levels, along with lots of unexpectedly deadly twists and more surprises. This certainly looks promising and will have a review soon; while you wait for that you can check out our interview with Fuzzy Wuzzy Games.

Bombing Bastards (Sanuk Games, $6.99 / $7.49CAD) — We're a little surprised that this game has kept its original title, but it has. It appears to bear plenty of similarities to Bomberman, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and includes single player stages along with local-co-op that supports up to five players. We'll get into this for a review.

Internal Invasion (Bear Box Media, $4.49) — Announced earlier this year, this is a physical puzzler in which you propel yourself through 50 tricky stages to get rid of some nasty viruses. We'll see whether this is just what the doctor ordered in our review.

POKER DICE SOLITAIRE FUTURE (RCMADIAX, $1.99 / $1.99CAD) — As the name makes very clear, this incorporates poker gameplay with dice, bringing the mind back to basic electronic games of the past. While a fun and minor diversion on the GamePad, we thought this was rather limited in our POKER DICE SOLITAIRE FUTURE review.

ZaciSa’s Last Stand (ZeNfA Productions, $2.99 / $2.99CAD) — Another developer making a Wii U début, this is a tower-defence title in which you deploy bots to protect your bases, with success allowing you to invest in new weapons and upgrades. Unfortunately, we were rather unimpressed in our ZaciSa’s Last Stand review.

Wii U Virtual Console

Mario Tennis: Power Tour (Nintendo, $6.99 / $6.99CAD) — A little while after the European release, the Wii U Virtual Console serves up this treat from the Game Boy Advance library. We suspect news of this one will please some GBA fans, as it tasks you with levelling up your character before jumping into matches with the Mushroom Kingdom residents. We'll take to the court to give this RPG-lite sport title a fair swing.

Wii U eShop Permanent Discount

Wii U eShop Temporary Discount

3DS eShop

Squids Odyssey (The Game Bakers, $14.99 / $14.99CAD) - Squids Odyssey is a unique mix of action strategy and RPG: build your team of Squid heroes for epic turn-based battles against corrupted sea-life. We were fans of the Wii U eShop version and, so it happens, this 3DS version too.

Bike Rider DX2: Galaxy (Spicysoft, $2.99 / $2.99CAD) — It's taken a little longer than we expected to arrive, but this sequel to the rather popular bike / runner original has finally arrived. This incorporates wackier areas and some fun-looking power-ups, and we'll get pedalling to see whether it lives up to its predecessor in our upcoming review.

Glory of Generals (CIRCLE Entertainment, $9.99 / $10.79CAD) — If you like strategy games and anything related to World War II, this is certainly one to keep an eye on. It offers 64 campaigns covering both sides of the conflict, so we'll let you know whether it offers both quantity and quality in our review.

City Mysteries (Teyon, $4.99 / $4.99CAD) — With scenes in London, New York, Paris and Rome, this is a hidden object game where, unsurprisingly, you search for objects that are hidden. We'll damage our eyesight straining at the screen in order to bring you a review.

WiiWare

Karaoke Joysound (Brother International Corp)

DSiWare

Mysterious Stars: A Fairy Tale (Collavier Corporation, 500 Nintendo Points) — This series continues its rapid release schedule on DSiWare, this tasks you with helping a young girl in the European Middle Ages by connecting dots. We're working on our reviews for these games and will try to make sense of the concept.

Phew! Plenty of choices this week, so let us know what you're planning to pick up in the poll and comments below.

Just the Tomodachi Life demo for me

Nothing for me this week

Welsh ex-pat Tom is responsible for the day-to-day running of the site. He's the guy to thank for the generally brilliant nature of the content which massages your eyeballs on a daily basis. Also has an unhealthy obsession with all things Bowser.

@MrWalkieTalkie Gucamelee certainly is great, but I own it already on several Platforms, and even that super edition I just got for free on my Xbone so ... nothing at all for me.

Don't think I bought anything this year so far besides Bravely Default and Crashmo .. last year I think I made like 1500 points at Club Nintendo Oo Well, as soons as my WiiU get's here I'll get MK8, so there is that ^^

Serious week for the eShop on both systems. Wii U still needs demos though. I honestly don't think it has gotten a single demo in 2014, the last one was Sonic Lost Worlds. Why have a category on the eShop for them. If they are afraid to scare off customers for new games they could at least have the store kiosk demos for older games - I played Game and Wario in Gamestop and Mario and Sonic at the Olympics in Target. Those games sales could not suffer from demos at this point, and the demos already exist.

Will get Guacamele at some point, will probably get Aaarillo cause I'm a sucker for sales and I have $5 DDP from WW HD, which I got for free w/ MK8, which also came w/ a free $5 GC and $10 MK8 wheel. And I paid for MK8 w/ $45 in GC. MK8 really is the gift that keeps on giving.

@sinalefa I remember reading a study(don't remember where) that said demos actually hurt game sales, and that the better avenue for increased sales is running a price cut promotion. Just look at OUYA when it launched, everyone just download the FREE demos and very few actually bought software.

Thought I was going to get Guacamelee, but yet another title raised in price in Canada which means I don't have enough money to buy it in my account. Sure I could add more money, but I won't buy on principle.

Nope, it wasn't me. I haven't even registered MK8 yet. This week I will have today's games to keep me busy (along with Steamworld Dig that I started yesterday so I can complete its survey that expires July 11th) so I guess I will do so after the World Cup is over, freeing some of my spare time.

I know a lot of people who either are satisfied by the demo (specially if it does not have a limit) or that get a wrong impression of the game because of a demo (W101 comes to mind) so I can see the point.

@RCMADIAX - I don't see how a demo of Mario and Sonic at the 2014 Winter Olympics is going to hurt that games sales any. Winter 2014 is over. Well unless your Nitendo and still planning to release SSB in Winter 2014

I understand how demos of upcoming games could hurt sales - people play it, don't like it, they don't buy the game. But there are probably people who got a Wii U for Christmas who might not even know about Game and Wario which came out June 2013. Giving it a demo would give it some exposure. I think a month or so after release is probably a good time for the demo. So this would be a good week for the MK8 demo I played in Target, while the free game promotion is still going on.

@rjejr As for your Game and Wario example, running a sale on the eShop with promo banners would be the key thing to do in that situation. Would bring in far more revenue than a demo would, sadly.

@sinalefa I love that Nintendo has a limit on demos, but do we really need to play the same levels 10 times to know if we like the game or not? I think no more than 5 should be the max, but that's my view as a developer so...

Hmmm... lots to choose from but nothing I've been clamoring for.The Virtual Console needs some adrenaline... maybe an N64 or Gamecube release to get us pumped about it again.But the indie support is cool to see.

Probably gonna have to check out Armillo at some point. And I'll also be downloading the demo of Tomodachi Life. I don't think the full game is for me at all, as it looks like a glorified mobile title, but i'll give the demo a go, and maybe if the game ever gets a decent eshop discount, i'll get it if i like the demo.

@RCMADIAX - "Would bring in far more revenue than a demo would, sadly."

Wouldn't a sale coupled w/ a demo be optimum? To me the demo should come first, like I said about a month after a game releases, don't wont to scare off Day 1 early adopters, and then the sale could come later. And sales usually only last a week or 2, once a demo is up it stays up, so as more people buy Wii U - I'ld like to think Wii U hasn't reached half it's lifetime sales yet and that MK8 recently sold a bunch - demos give those old games continuous exposure.

I know game companies - on Sony's PSN at least - have to pay to host their demoes, and companies have to put in the work to make the demos, but Ntinedo owns Game adn Wario, MK8 and probably Mairo and Sonic and those games already had in store demos, so I thnik the amount of extra money and work to get them on the eShop would be minimal so that even a few sales could justify the cost. And I think they also did Pushmo World. A demo of that could get people to buy the 3DS versions as well. Just have a few levels in the demo, bu not the level editor.

WOOOO ARMILLO! Been waiting for this to come out for months, especially after 2 delays. Can't wait to download it right after work. Mario galaxy gameplay with an adorable armadillo ball? Yes Please! (btw no interest in guacamelee, never heard of it)

Nothing for me this week. The Wii U eshop games don't do it for me and I already own Tomodachi Life. I may however download something previously released because I have $10 in digital deluxe promo codes screaming to be used.....Scram Kitty, Earthbound, or a GBA game perhaps.

@rjejr I think the problem is a bad demo turns people off a possibly good game. I thought the MH3 demo was awful and didn't get the game because of it. I've heard similar things about the wonderful 101 demo. A badly done demo of a good game can spell disaster, so perhaps they are just avoided. Old demos for old games, though. Can't argue with that!

I can confirm I got 399 points on the digital deluxe promotion for wii party u, which was enough to snag another $5! So it seems you get the eshop price of the game (I already had the other 3)

@rjejr Most studies show games hit 90% off their lifetime sales in the first 6 months. Except Nintendo games, those have long legs. In any case, demos would potentially convince gamers who weren't already buying it, so waiting until after the first 6 months so as to not interfere with sales sounds like the way to go.

So I agree with your point, but think the demos, if any, shouldn't release sooner than 6 months, maybe longer. Perhaps wait a year, THEN throw one out there as a potential pick-me-up

@RCMADIAX Damn. I'm really hoping for it coming to America. It'd seal the deal for me to buy it at $15. Even a discounted cross-buy promo would do it for me. I understand it costs to program for two different platforms to varying degrees, so something like the Wii VC to Wii U VC discount would be excellent.

Unrelated, I really enjoy your game, man. My fiance is also crazy about it- he's way better at it than I am. Love that huge update you did a few months back, and how you listen to what the fans said about it on Miiverse. That is really admirable and makes me want to support any future games of yours.

@SavoirFaire Very good point. I hated the MH3U demo and didn't buy it. I eventually bought it when it went on sale for like $20 and enjoyed it much more after that (the controls still bother me, though : ).But the point is, poor demos hurt sales.

Bombing Bastards, as soon as I get the credit on there. I'm still getting Guacamelee, and upset at how long Watermelon took to update info on Pier Solar (Tengami and Teslagrad have missed their proposed June releases by over a week now, for what it's worth) but before I commit to the Guac, I need to advance a little further into Shovel Knight. Great game and pretty challenging too.

I didn't care for the EO: Millenium Girl demo at first but the second time around, I enjoyed it (even if I did get killed lol). If it's priced the same as the current Atlus discounts then I may go for it.

Help! ANYONE! I don't know what to get! Armillo, Mario Tennis, Bombing (not typing in the second part )!!?? GAAAHHH!! They all seem really good!! HURRY UP AND SAVE THE DAY NINTENDO LIFE!! D'X (kidding, take all the time you need).

That's the whole point. By doing only temporary discounts, they guarantee a spot in the "price drop" category of the eshop, most likely one of the most popular categories for the casual and impulse buyers...and with some luck like this week, managing to appear on the weekly official PR. Discounting permanently the games would leave them buried with every other game...that is, most of the time only appearing to the people that search for them manually.

@shigulicious It's not bad. If you've got a real love for N64-era 3D platformers and really like Super Monkey Ball-esque rolling gameplay, give it a shot. If you have a kid, it's probably worth the $6 right there. If those points don't persuade you, though, probably best to sit this one out. It's fun but sort of indistinct in a lot of ways. With all the top-notch indies out on the system right now, the only things really separating Armillo are that it's largely in 3D, it clocks in at a really good price and it's more kid-friendly than something like Scram Kitty, Guacamelee or 1001 Spikes.

@SuperMikey Do you have Shovel Knight? If not the answer is Shovel Knight. Go get Shovel Knight.

@alex167 There's certainly a level of challenge to it, although I wouldn't call it hard. There are difficult moments but the game is pretty forgiving with checkpoints, health, extra lives and the like. You can set the difficulty to make it a little harder. But it's not Baby's First Platformer or anything like that.

@alex167 There is indeed a shop and you can buy some items to make the game a little easier like an extra health piece, an extra life (which permanently kicks in for every stage — your lives get reset to two or three every time you go into a new level). You have to earn the currency to buy stuff, though, which means doing pretty well in the stages. I'm only about a fifth of the way through the game so I don't know everything that's available. I just opened up a bunch of new stuff in the shop but didn't buy it yet.

I haven't played the other 2, but Armillo exceeds expectations, let me just say. It's a crafty little game- for some reason it gives me the same vibes as Pikmin 3. Probably that similar menu soundtrack and the whole traveling through space thing. Idk why, but it's almost giving me nostalgia, even though Pikmin 3 just came out a year ago (I really loved that game though).

In any case, the gameplay is surprisingly great, actually! Addictive little game too. The moon levels and 2D bonus levels are top notch. I really like the 3D stages too though. It's all great. This is a nice little gem.

I've been putting off all my Wii U E-shop purchases for a little while now because of the Steam Summer Sale, but depending on how busy or bored I get this weekend, I may have to pick up something...maybe Guacamelee or Bike Rider DX Galaxy.

Picked up Glory of Generals, and I suppose it's a decent strategy title for the price on a platform that sorely lacks games of this genre. I'd much rather prefer a new Advance Wars title, but this will do for now... :/